Oh, the sweet little babies—a-settin’ in the boat—jist a-settin’ an’ a-settin’ till the night do come. Oh, by Joe! (_He runs out, right, laughing._ LLOYD _looks at_ BETTY, _disturbed, then walks over left_. BETTY _gets out of the boat slowly and goes toward him_.) BETTY Lloyd— We better go— LLOYD Mebbe— BETTY He makes me feel— Oh!— LLOYD Don’t mind him. BETTY I do mind him. We better go. (_Painfully._) Lloyd, whut is it? Whut’d he mean? LLOYD Oh, don’t mind him— BETTY Tell me— LLOYD Things. He’s dirty, he’s low— BETTY Oh!— LLOYD We’ll go whur the others are at. It’s all right. Don’t you mind. Miss Meredith’ll know it’s all right. She’ll know. Come on. We better go. (_They start, right._ MISS MEREDITH _enters hastily, out of breath, venomous. She stops in their path._) MISS MEREDITH Oh—so you’re here? LLOYD (_slowly_) Yes’m. MISS MEREDITH A pretty sight! A pretty couple, I must say! LLOYD Whut’d you mean? MISS MEREDITH The nerve—asking me what I mean! Where have you been all morning—you two? LLOYD No whur. We come here—that’s all. MISS MEREDITH _Come_ here! What time did you leave the Switch? LLOYD I don’t know. It uz early. MISS MEREDITH What time? LLOYD I don’t know. MISS MEREDITH You don’t know? Before sun-up? LLOYD Yes, ma’am. MISS MEREDITH Before daylight, wasn’t it? LLOYD Yes. MISS MEREDITH You left in the dark? LLOYD Yes, it uz still dark. MISS MEREDITH I thought so! LLOYD Whut difference’d it make? I tole Bud Bickel to tell you— MISS MEREDITH Oh, he told me! He told me you were coming early—by yourselves—you and Betty. Why’d you do it? LLOYD Why, we wanted to. MISS MEREDITH Wanted to! That’s no reason. Why’d you want to? LLOYD Why, we wanted t’ be here ’fore it got light t’ see the lake. T’ see it git lighter ’n’ lighter till the gray mist uz all gone—an’ the sun had rose— MISS MEREDITH Oh, you did? So you had to get up early in the morning—before daylight—and drive here through the dark woods—by yourselves—alone—you two? You had to sneak off where there was no one to spy on you, and no light to make you ashamed of yourselves, didn’t you? Oh, don’t interrupt me! I know why you did it! I’m surprised at you, Betty. I wouldn’t have thought it of you! I shall report you both to the School Board. I’m ashamed! I’m ashamed _for_ you! I can hardly look any one in the face. I don’t know how you can. Oh, it’s this that makes teaching so hard! After all my labor, and all my rules to keep you from going wrong like this—you sneak off to the woods—the first chance you get—like a couple of animals. I’m ashamed of you! Come on, now! The fire’s started. Come on and eat your breakfast! (_She goes out._) BETTY (_turns away, stricken_) Oh! Her, too! LLOYD Her—an’ everbody! Damn her! Damn everbody! O Christ! BETTY It’s all mean—it’s all wicked, wicked! Whut’ll we do now? LLOYD (_in agony_) Nuthin’— BETTY We _got_ to do _sump’n_! LLOYD We’ll go on the lake, then.